Virginia House Bill No. 253 offered on January 13, 2010, proposes the notion of allowing medical corpsmen to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), a standardized test accrediting them to practice as Registered Nurses (RN). Currently, to become an RN in the United States, one must apply for a license to practice professionally. To obtain a RN license, one must have either a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED), received a diploma or degree from an accredited professional nursing program, pass the NCLEX, and be in good legal standing. An applicant from a foreign country that completes a nursing program in their country prior to coming to the United States must take the NCLEX in order to practice as a RN in the Commonwealth.
Virginia House Bill No. 253 proposes the addition of another opportunity to acquire RN licensure. If passed, this bill would allow an applicant that has served in the medical corps of any branch of the US military to apply to take the NCLEX without completing a traditional nursing program. While serving in the military, a corpsman must complete the course of instruction to qualify him/her as a medical specialist advanced, medical service technician, or advanced hospital corpsman technician or another equivalent in order to take the national board exam.
Delegates Donald W. Merricks and Donald W. Marshall, III are co-patrons of this bill. Merricks serves as a congressional delegate for district five, while Marshall serves as a congressional delegate for districts five and nine.
Potential Issues:
• Lack of traditional nursing education
• Different priorities related to patient care
• Increase in the number of available working RNs
• Risk for criticism from current health care professionals
• Integration of military nursing skills with bedside nursing practice
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As future RN’s, we are astonished that this bill proposes a medical specialist from the military would be granted the opportunity to acquire an RN licensure. A baccalaureate nursing program is vigorous and demanding while emphasizing skills on critical thinking, prioritization, delegation, and a holistic approach on patient-care. Specific courses are designated to give the future nurses an outlook on professionalism, nursing research, and leadership outside of the “medical” portion of nursing care. We question whether or not the military specialists have acquired this type of education from their background. The NCLEX is designated to examine the knowledge, competency, and abilities that are essential to the nursing practice. We feel that military specialists have an important role in the health-care system but do would not be able to fulfill the role designated for a registered nurse.
ReplyDeleteWe agree with Brittany, it is unbelievable that someone who did not go through a nursing school would be eligible to take the NCLEX. Nursing schools provide a well rounded education on all aspects of care. Whereas, nursing education in the military field may not. Students in nursing schools are taught critical thinking skills instead of how to just complete a task. RN's take care of the patient as a whole, they focus on spiritual, cultural, mental, emotional, and physical aspects of the patient. If someone has not gone through a nursing program like that, how would they be able to provide the best care possible for each individual patient?
ReplyDeleteWe agree with the previous posts and think that corpsmen should not be able to take the NCLEX once they have completed their service. However, we believe that to help with nursing shortages they should be able to obtain the LPN license. Corpsmen are trained in the basic skills such as inserting IVs, giving medications and providing other basic care so they could easily fulfill the job requirements of an LPN. We do not believe that they would have the critical thinking skills to perform the job duties of an RN.
ReplyDeleteOur group agrees with all of the previous comments. Yes, these corpsmen may be skilled in the military field, however, we all know that it's a completely different situation in the outside settings (i.e. acute care, rehab, etc.) The military field aims towards a quick fix, and just towards survival. Our nursing training teaches us to focus on the holistic approach of patient care. This is not something that can be self-taught. If these corpsmen are interested in the nursing field outside of military, it wouldn't be to hard for them to take an 18-month course toward an associate nursing degree. Or perhaps the government could offer funding for programs that would allow the corpsmen to receive their RN license in a shorter time than those of us who are not in the military. After receiving their license, these corpsmen could then be eligible to take the NCLEX.
ReplyDeleteWe think that this bill is demeaning towards all RNs everywhere. It's as if saying that our four years of working towards our degree don't mean anything and that anyone could just take the NCLEX without the proper training.
Brittany, we completely agree that military specialists have an important role in the health-care system but as you said they are better suited for a position other than a registered nurse if they have not completed formal nursing education. We feel that the most equivalent job in the civilian world is working as an Emergency Medical Technician which has a similar knowledge base including instruction and practice dealing with bleeding, fractures, airway obstruction, cardiac arrest and emergency childbirth. The training for an EMT and medical corpsmen are similar because they both prepare the individual to respond to emergent situations. Registered nurses are trained to respond to these emergent situations as well as caring for patients of all ages and backgrounds with a wide variety of chronic illnesses. Sara, as a group we completely agree with your statement about how nursing school provides a well rounded education. Medical corpsmen generally will be working within military hospitals and they will be treating patients of a similar age, background and condition. Registered nurses are familiar with caring for patients of all ages regardless of their specialty because of clinical experiences ranging from pediatrics to gerontology. Stephanie, interesting point you made about allowing corpsmen to obtain their LPN. We think that this could definitely be a possibility with perhaps a course about disease pathophysiology and pharmacology. Melissa, we agree having a nursing education is vital to becoming a skilled competent nurse and eligibility to take the NCLEX should only be granted to those who have completed an approved nursing program!
ReplyDeleteWe agree with the previous posts. Being able to immediately take the NCLEX without any formal courses in nursing is not in the best interest of the soldier. Combat care and care in a hospital are very different. Soldiers are mainly concerned with preserving life by stopping bleeding and other "quick fixes." Nurses have been taught a holistic approach that will save the patient in the moment and prevent any other complications that may arise in the future. Nurses have learned so many skills in critical thinking and memorized so many medications that it would not be best for a qualified medical specialist corpsmen to just jump in and become an RN. Although this soldier may be very skilled in his/her field, nursing requires a unique set of skills that one can complete in 2 a year program if they wish.
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